Improving Public Perception of Keeping Snakes

[Ashley96]

This might sound silly but again, a great way to reach out to my millennial generation, social media! I created a VSCO for my ball python that shows pictures of him just doing his thing. My friend also made him an instagram where daily photos are posted of him and I feel it really helps to improve the way people view snakes. I already have people saying things like, "I've never liked snakes but yours is really cute" and so on.

Like others have said, it's really just about showing them in a positive light. They aren't some dangerous slithery scary monsters like many perceive them to be. One of my friends who has a snake phobia came over and while she didn't hold him, she did touch him, something she never thought she'd do. I think similar can be done with the larger snakes. I follow social media accounts dedicated to showing off large snakes and I think we really need more of that as well. Social media is such a great way to get people interested. It's what first sparked my interest years ago, and now I own my very own snake!

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

THANK YOU!!! If you want to debate regulations go start your own thread. I want to focus on tactics individual snake-keepers can use since people with no exposure to snakes don't know the difference between a ball python and a Burmese python.

Sorry, I shouldn't have started that ball rolling here

More focused on the topic, my wife mentioned our snakes in her office environment and it turned out her coworker had an extensive herp collection, including venomous. Their talking about snakes has drawn in other coworkers in a positive way. The comfort level was raised so much that her coworker actually brought in a ball python to integrate in a therapy unit one week.

So sometimes just sending out feelers and then general conversation is able to increase the comfort level of people without needing an overt display.

[Crowfingers]

As part of my volunteer work, I take educational animals to schools, public events, and other social gatherings and put on programs to teach everyone about wildlife and exotic animals. Even though we are located in Virginia (not balmy Florida) we have gotten in several ball pythons, tortoises, geckos, parrots, and some exotic mammals that have all been abandoned / dumped illegally in the wild.

Because of this, I have included in my programs information about responsible pet ownership. This inevitably leads to questions about where someone can get a tortoise or snake, and my answers are always honest and meant to stress how these animals have specific care requirements. Once someone hears that the cute sulcata tortoise they saw in some pet shop is going to get to 200+ pounds and live longer than you and your kids, most people realize that this is not the pet for them. When asked about my own snake I talk about all the equipment, food (after all - you can't just open a can and put it in a bowl on the floor), and time requirements for pet snakes.

My other method of teaching the public is to tell them the really "cute" natural history of our native snakes. A person that tells me that they had a 4 foot black "rattlesnake" in their yard and was too afraid to got out after that is usually at least a little comforted to know that harmless black rat snakes wiggle their tails and hiss to act scary and poisonous. I explain that the snake sees them as a giant predator that wants to eat it and the snake is just trying to look as un-meal-like as possible. I will then explain that these snakes eat the mice / rats / sometimes even poisonous snakes (especially in the case of king and indigo snakes).

There will still always be the people in the crowd that hate all things snake and will not be convinced that they are not slimy, mean, dangerous animals. The only thing you can for these people is remain professional and try and teach the people that are willing to listen and learn.

[bcr229]

A person that tells me that they had a 4 foot black "rattlesnake" in their yard and was too afraid to got out after that is usually at least a little comforted to know that harmless black rat snakes wiggle their tails and hiss to act scary and venomous. I explain that the snake sees them as a giant predator that wants to eat it and the snake is just trying to look as un-meal-like as possible. I will then explain that these snakes eat the mice / rats / sometimes even venomous snakes (especially in the case of king and indigo snakes).

Fixed.

Does your group wait to get invited to these public events or do you ask to participate when you learn of one?

[JodanOrNoDan]

THANK YOU!!! If you want to debate regulations go start your own thread. I want to focus on tactics individual snake-keepers can use since people with no exposure to snakes don't know the difference between a ball python and a Burmese python.

How in the world can you run a "marketing campaign" without knowing what you are marketing and the stance you are taking on known issues? Someone else here said we all need to be on the same sheet of music. To be successful the entire "company" needs to be on the same agenda. I love the big ones. I could take care of one if I really wanted to however I am in Florida and I understand why they are not allowed here but it is too little too late. Idiots screwed it up for everyone else. Responsible people in cold zones should be allowed to keep them. People keeping hots should have to have a licence. This is where I stand. Whether I am I right or wrong is up for debate. What I know for sure is the community should all put on the same public face and be able to answer hard questions if they want to be able to effectively present to the mainstream.

[Kokorobosoi]

As a woman, I remind everyone to never underestimate the power of "pretty".

Those photoshopped pink and lavender snakes are pinned and repinned on pinterest everyday. The pretty, almost iridescent pictures of eyelash vipers and other very colourful snakes are seen as cute. I see comments all the time about how "i don't like snakes, but this one is pretty"

those snek memes.... http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1035080-this-is-snek

these things are cute, easy to share, and usually positive. They pop up everywhere.

Google snakes in hats. People LOVE snakes in hats.

(we are ignoring the fact that eyelash vipers are NOT the snake we want to tote facts about to calm people down. But they are cute though...)

[bcr229]

How in the world can you run a "marketing campaign" without knowing what you are marketing and the stance you are taking on known issues?

What is being marketed is the concept that keeping a snake (or snakes) isn't weird or kooky. The target audience is people who do not and may have never considered one as a pet.

Someone else here said we all need to be on the same sheet of music. To be successful the entire "company" needs to be on the same agenda.

I can list half a dozen different factions within the NRA, one of the most successful single-issue organizations operating today, without breaking a sweat.

[distaff]

As a woman, I remind everyone to never underestimate the power of "pretty".

Those photoshopped pink and lavender snakes are pinned and repinned on pinterest everyday. The pretty, almost iridescent pictures of eyelash vipers and other very colourful snakes are seen as cute. I see comments all the time about how "i don't like snakes, but this one is pretty"

those snek memes.... http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1035080-this-is-snek

these things are cute, easy to share, and usually positive. They pop up everywhere.

Google snakes in hats. People LOVE snakes in hats.

(we are ignoring the fact that eyelash vipers are NOT the snake we want to tote facts about to calm people down. But they are cute though...)

Totally agree.

The first time I saw a pic of a lavender and yellow retic....Wow! "Big scary snake" was the last thing on my mind. Beauty is seductive. I like learning about the natural ecology of the animals, and when it came time to buy a corn snake, I researched the localities. The localities are are lovely, even incomparable, but I ended up choosing a lavender blood red morph - basically a pink snake with grey overtones. (I kinda had to get over my own snobbery; he's not a science project, he's a pet.) Same with fish: I enjoy the YouTube channels on the nano fish and the areas these come from, but the fish I have, and the fish I'm buying are gold fish. IMHO, nothing more beautiful than a Watoni, and nothing cuter than a ranchu, or an oranda; yet, fancies are as artificial as you can get.

[JodanOrNoDan]

What is being marketed is the concept that keeping a snake (or snakes) isn't weird or kooky. The target audience is people who do not and may have never considered one as a pet.

This sounds good.

I can list half a dozen different factions within the NRA, one of the most successful single-issue organizations operating today, without breaking a sweat.

This is apples and oranges. The NRA, which I support, is a organization that should not even need to exist. They have money and they have the the constitution to back them up.

I would say a better comparison may be the AMA and the loud pipes issue.

United we stand, divided we fall.......

At this point even I think I have diverged too far from the original post. If anyone in south Florida needs help with promoting the hobby please feel free to PM me.

[Kokorobosoi]

Just to steer us back to the topic... What was the thing that first got people here interested?

I know mine. A circus my father took me to as a child had a burm, and you could go get photos with it. I wanted a photo, so they sat me on a hay bale and put the tail end on my lap with someone managing the bulk of it. That was my first experience with any reptile. I didn't have negative religious associations of snakes, my mother wasn't there so she didn't teach me her fear.

Years later a teacher had an iguana in the class room, and we got extra credit for babysitting it over weekends and holidays. My weekend came up in that really big snowstorm in 98? I'm not sure now. But I did have that little bright green Houdini for almost two weeks.

i think having no adults around me who were afraid helped. I couldn't learn it early and by the time I did figure out other people were scared it was too late.